Poll

Government

Harlean Howard will become the city of Lancaster’s next police chief.
City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to appoint Howard, who’s in her 20th year with the Lancaster Police Department. She’s held the rank of captain since 2003.
Howard will succeed Hugh White, who recently announced plans to retire. White has been with the department since 1982, serving as chief the past 11 years.
Howard’s appointment as chief becomes effective Jan. 7.

Despite three county departments ending the fiscal year over budget, Lancaster County received another good rating during this year’s annual audit.
Sheila Morgan, a certified public accountant with McAbee Talbert Halliday & Co., presented the audit results at Lancaster County Council’s Dec. 13 meeting. Morgan issued the county an unqualified opinion, meaning it was in good financial shape.

HEATH SPRINGS – Prep work has begun on the long-awaited expansion project at the Heath Springs Fire Department station.
Fire Chief Patrick Helms gave Heath Springs Town Council members an update on the work Tuesday. The department will more than triple the size of its existing Duncan Street station – going from about 3,000 square feet to more than 10,000 square feet, Helms said.
The work is being paid for through a $976,000 federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant that the fire department received last year.

The race for Mick Mulvaney’s former state Senate seat is getting crowded, with six candidates now saying they will run for the post.
Republicans Mike Short and Rob McCoy both announced Friday that they are throwing their hats into the ring.
Mulvaney resigned from his Senate seat on Dec. 10. The Indian Land Republican defeated longtime incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. John Spratt in November to win the 5th District congressional seat. Mulvaney will take his seat in Congress in January.

Shrouded in secrecy and labeled with mysterious code names, two newly proposed County Council ordinances sound like something out of a spy novel.
Project Football and Project December are two separate economic development ordinances under consideration by council. But trying to find out anything more about them is a little more difficult.

KERSHAW – The town of Kershaw has joined the ranks of local entities to support a proposed water supply expansion project.
Mike Bailes, director of the Catawba River Water Treatment Plant, addressed Kershaw Town Council on Thursday about a planned 92-acre water reservoir near the Catawba River.
The reservoir would provide water for 30 days in a severe drought or another “worst-case scenario.” The effort is a partnership between the Lancaster County Water and Sewer District and Union County, N.C.

The city of Lancaster will allow a property owner to reapply for annexation into the city.
Earlier this year, 121 acres of land were annexed and given an interim zoning of R-10, a residential district. Those two tracts of property – owned by St. Katherine Properties, LLC – are adjacent to the Forest Hills and Partridge Hill subdivisions near West Meeting Street.
St. Katherine Properties had requested an R-10 classification, though the city’s zoning board recommended an R-15, which is less dense – requiring 15,000 square feet per lot. R-10 requires 10,000 square feet per lot.

The city of Lancaster has begun the process to find Hugh White’s successor.
White, who has been the Lancaster Police Department chief for 11 years, announced last week that he will be stepping down soon. His retirement will become effective next month.
A day before the city announced White’s resignation, the five-day period began in which current city employees could apply for the job. City policy allows in-house applicants to have first consideration, said City Administrator Helen Sowell.
That application period ran from Dec. 8 to Tuesday.

New District 4 Lancaster County school board member Bill Sumner was sworn in during a brief ceremony before the start of the board’s monthly meeting Tuesday night.
Sumner was elected in November in a special election to replace former board member Dr. Peter Barry, who died in September.
County Clerk of Court Jeff Hammond administered the oath.

KERSHAW – The town of Kershaw has received federal funding that will allow residents in the southern part of the county to have better access to low-cost health care.
Kershaw is the recipient of a $465,300 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), which is given by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The S.C. Department of Commerce, which administers the grant program for the state, announced the award late last week.